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Gods of the Unterzee
On the Surface, sailors were always superstitious people with tall tales of supernatural entities helping or hindering them on their travels. On the Zee it's no different... but the Zee's superstitions might actually hold some truth, for it is full of things no mortal can possibly comprehend. The three foremost gods of the Unterzee are Storm, Stone, and Salt. The Gods' secrets are buried within the icy depths of Frostfound.__forcetoc__ Storm "Now and then, rocky fragments fall from the roof of the Neath. The decks of older ships are pocked with scars. The sound is one no land-lubber knows, and no zailor will ever forget. This one has smashed the glass of a deck-binnacle. "Ill omen!" one sailor cries. "The god in the roof! Storm is angry!" "Long ago a hungry monarch built a castle. The monarch sent messengers to the thunder-dragon in the roof, but the dragon ate them all. The monarch sent more messengers - shapelings from Axile, malleable and eager - but the dragon ate those too. Then the hungry monarch found the dragon's name, and the dragon had to listen. It didn't do either of them much good. You have one syllable of the thunder-dragon's name. It won't be pleased." An ancient anger, Storm's wrath is unending and punishing to those who gain his attention. Storm is the embodiment of the air, the weather, and the sky... well, its Neathy equivalent, at least. He is the punishment, the judgement, of all beings who sail the Zee. It should be noted, of course, that this description could be more metaphorical than fact. However, given the primal nature of Storm and his followers, it may make sense that Storm is a beast of a being. Storm is a god whose favor cannot be won entirely. He can provide new strength and vision, but his attention often fuels humans' rage. Captains have been known to find their crew members attacking each other with unprecedented bloodlust after a brush with a stalactite. Be wary of Storm's displeasure, as his curse is as relentless as the weather bearing his name: he'll send storms and fog into the path of an ill-fated ship. What is Storm? He is a dragon, an enforcer of Judgement-law, probably here enforcing the Bazaar's seven-city limit. He also may be dead, in some sense, but he doesn't really care. Salt once tried to contact him, but Storm kept eating every messenger it sent. Then Salt learned Storm's Name, and Storm was forced to listen. It didn't work out too well for either of them. The urchins of London worship Storm, and it is possible to end up in his mind after too many dreams of speaking thunder. Stone "It's very far away; but perhaps it's watching you." "Long ago a hungry monarch built a castle. The monarch saw a light in the south, in the palace of the south's queen. In those days, hungry as the monarch was, that light provoked nothing but appetite. But she was too far to devour. Over time, their correspondence calmed the monarch, and when the time came for the monarch to depart, the monarch's appetite was transformed, like blood into tears. You have one word from the queen's correspondence. She won't be pleased." Stone is known as the protector of all the islands on the Zee. She resides deep within the Elder Continent, as the Mountain of Light. Stone is many things: a living mountain far to the south of the Presbyterate, the source of the Wax Wind, the daughter of the Bazaar and the Sun, the mother of Mt. Nomad. People from around the Elder Continent regularly make pilgrimages to her, and sometimes they clip relics (called Mountain-Sherds) from her slopes. Stone influences the lives of nearly all who inhabit the Neath. The unnatural, unexplainable vitality she emits is what makes death in this realm mostly impermanent. The normally inanimate denizens of Polythreme are so alive that they scream, and the citizens of the Elder Continent have particularly long lives. The Thief-of-Faces - the original Snuffer - wounded the Mountain of Light long ago and made her child, Mt. Nomad. The blood from this wound forms the Nameless River, whose estuary into the Unterzee is called Adam's Way. Gaining Stone's attention may make you healthier and more agile. Her curse, however, seems to do nothing. Perhaps it's that some forms of death are permanent. It could be the fact that those who live outside the Elder Continent can never enter, not without their souls burning away and their entire crew dying. Or maybe it simply works in a way we cannot understand, or we have yet to see the full repercussions of the curse. No matter what her curse does, Stone is perhaps the most impactful and influential Zee-god. Be wary of surprise bits of stone and even diamonds showing up unaccounted for on the ship; these may mean Stone is watching you from her glowing, ever-living mountain home. The Mountain is likely named after the diamond known as the Koh-i-Noor (Mountain of Light in Persian). This diamond was once the largest in the world, and passed through the hands of the Kakatiya dynasty in India, the Persian Empire, and the British Empire. It is now a part of Queen Elizabeth II's crown. It may also reference Debre Berhan, a former capital of Ethiopia whose name is Amharic for "Mountain of Light". Salt "We will sail East, and the islands will fall behind. The zee will be troubled by greater waves. The false-stars will pale, until the Neath-roof grows invisible above. New scents will prickle the air: something like spice and something like pine." "Long ago, a traveller went East, seeking something that could not be found in the black and starry kingdoms of the High Wilderness, nor in the irrigo temptations of the Nadir. Not in the glow of the Forge nor the crushing silence of the Unterzee deeps. Not in the shapeling citadels, not in the light of the South, not of the Sundered Sea. The traveller went East, and others may follow. You have found something the traveller tried to forget: that naked need. The traveller won't be pleased." The flowing currents of time and memory are Salt's domain. It is the embodiment of the Zee itself; its origin is unknown, though it is believed that it may exist far to the east, farther than anyone dares to go. Salt's influence affects all travelers of the Zee. Its attention can bring the blessings of sudden revelations, or the most devastating of curses. It can undo past achievements, take loved ones, and even alter one's past so that one would be erased entirely. Keep an eye out for its messenger, the White Bat; if it is watching you, Salt is watching. (Was Salt mortal once? Was it once like us, a mere explorer who discovered something beyond our comprehension? What lies in the far reaches of its domain?) What, or who, is Salt? Losing one's mind in Kingeater's Castle gives a vision of a "hungry sun" who "made of memories a castle" and speaks of "mirrors in the ice". This vision probably refers to Salt. Additionally, Salt's Name is spoken in the Correspondence. Thus, Salt is likely a Judgement who found his way to the Neath. It's implied that another Sun sent Salt here to take a look at the Neath's activities. In the process, however, it got distracted and drifted away from its mission. Salt gave up its memories and name, building of them a castle of ice. It abandoned its hunger, leaving it as Kingeater's Castle. Then it ventured from Irem (which it may also have built) into the Uttermost East, where now it waits for others to follow. Someday, it will return, and rise to face the White in its palace of poisoned crystal. Salt is sometimes called the Sun-Beneath-the-Sea. Category:Characters Category:Nonhumans Category:The Unterzee Category:Formatted